Fountain pens



Jan. 26, 1960 5. E B 2,922,395

FOUNTAIN PENS John E. DeBaun I: ZZMM ATTORNEY INVENTOR.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. John E. DeBoun J. E. DE BAUN FOUNTAIN PENS x mm,

Q K in mm m y Jan. 26, 1960 Filed Feb. 6, 1958 mm mm #m Am ATTORNEY United States Patent FOUNTAIN PENS John E. De Baun, Ridgewood, NJ. Application February 6, 1958, Serial No. 713,610 4 Claims. (Cl. 12042.01)

This invention relates to fountain pens.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide a fountain pen which can be filled with ink from the top end and removed from the nib end so that the pen point end does not have to be wiped off after the pen has been filled and before the pen can be used. I

It is another object of the invention to provide a fountain pen in which caps on the top and pen point ends do not need at any time to be fully removed therefrom and thus cannot be lost.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a fountain pen balance means that can be used easily and quickly to determine the amount of ink in the pen.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a fountain pen in which a cap element, as it is slid on the pen body, forces air from the rubber bulb and the bulb for filling, and as the bulb is filled the cap is automatically returned to its closed position.-

It is a still further object of the invention to provide in a fountain pen that is filled from its top end means for automatically closing off the passage through the nib end as the pen is being filled to prevent the inflow of air ,01 discharge of ink at this time.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a fountain pen, having the above objects in mind, which is of simple construction, has a minimum number of parts, inexpensive to manufacture, compact, light in weight, efiicient and effective in use.

For other objects and a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal view of the pen with both caps in their closed position,

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional View of the pen with the caps still in place,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevational view with portions broken away and with one of the caps serving as the operating member slid along the body and the rubber bulb or sack partially exhausted of air and prior to its release to permit the ink to enter the bulb,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the pen taken through the interior of the ink bulb with the bulb fully extended, Fig. 5 is a similar sectional view of the pen with the large diameter of the sack fully compressed and the air discharged therefrom and prior to the operating device being released to fill the sack with ink,

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 66 of Fig. 5,

Fig. 7 is a transverse view taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 5,

Fig. 8 is an elevational view illustrating the manner in which the pen is filled from its top end, and

Fig. 9 is an elevational view with the ink measuring parts extended and the pen being held thereby to give indication of the amount of ink in the pen.

Referring now particularly to the figures, 10 represents the main hollow body, that has a reduced diameter lower end 11 to which a nib sleeve 12 is secured. This nib sleeve supports a nib 13 and a pen point 14. The nib has an upwardly extending tubular p which have cooperating cam surfaces 45 and 46. These portion 15 through which the ink is delivered to the pen point 14. The tubular portion 15 of the nib extends upwardly and through the reduced diameter end 11. An elongated rubber bulb or sack 16 is tightly fitted over the nib tubular portion 15 and runs upwardly throughout the full height of the tubular body 10 and is open at its rear end 17 and joined to a central vent and filling tube 18. The tube 18 has an enlarged upper supporting end portion 19 which fills the upper end of the tube 10 and by which the vent and filling tube 18 is rigidly and centrally maintained within the body 10.

The upper end of the nib tubular portion 15 has a valve seat 21 against which a ball 22 that controls the flow of the ink through the tubular portion 15 will seat under gravity when the pen is carried upside down in the pocket. In order to check the ball against downward movement and off its seat when the pen is being used a stop projection 23 is provided within the tubular portion.

Fitted within the elongated bulb or sack is a valve supporting member or plate 24 having a central passage 25 and a downwardly projected valve element 26 that may engage the end of the nib tubular portion 15 of the nib to positively close oif the intake of air or the flow of ink therethrough at times when the pen is being filled. The valve 26 is carried on the end of a stem 27 that has a spider formation 28 for retaining the valve 26 in the opening 25 of the valve supporting member or plate 24.

A small compression spring 29 surrounds the nib tubular portion 15 and the lower end of the rubber bulb or sack ahead of the plate 24 and is operable to normally support the plate 24 and the valve 26 off its seat.

The central vent and filling tube has an ink receiving passage 30 which has flexible tandem valve slit elements 31 and 32 in its upper end through which ink can pass upon being drawn into the pen. Also running through the central filling tube 18 are air discharge passages 33 adapted to be closed at their inner ends by valve elements 34 carried on the member 24 and are normally closed under the action of the spring 29 acting on the valve supporting member 24.

The rubber bulb or sack 16 has a reduced diameter portion 16 that provides for a shoulder 37 against which an internal operating ring 38 may bear so that with movement of the ring 38 toward the nib end of the pen at times when the pen is being filled from its top end, in the manner illustrated in Fig. 8, the large diameter portion of the sack 16 is drawn together while the small portion of the sack is extended. Surrounding the large diameter portion of the sack 16 is a return compression spring 39 that will react against the plate 24 to return the ring 38 to its initial position so as to release the plate 24 and enable the valve elements 34 to seat in the ends of the air discharge passages 33. These valve elements 34 will have been lifted from their seats while the ring member 38 is collapsing the sack. As the sack expands the valve plate 24 will have been released so that the air discharge passages will be closed while the ink is drawn inwardly through the central passage 30 to fill the sack 16. The valve 26 will have become unseated from the nib tubular portion 15 and the ball valve 22 will be drawn against the seat not only by gravity but by suction as well as the filling of the sack takes place.

The body 10 has a reduced diameter upper portion over which a split cap and ring operating device 40 is provided. This device comprises separable half sleeve members 41 and 42 that are flared outwardly at their lower ends to provide respectively handles 43 and 44 half sleeve members are normally held together about the reduced end of the body by an expansion ring 4-7 surrounding the parts adjacent the handles 43 and 44. The respective parts 41 and 42 respectively have end closure portions 48 and 49 that can seat upon one another to Provide a substantial leak proof closure over the valved end of the ink filling passage 30 so that there is little chance of the ink on the surface of the dipping end of the pen passing through the cap device 40. This ink of course, dries shortly after the pen has been taken from the ink bottle and there is thus little chance of the clothing being spotted with the ink.

The body 10 has opposing elongated slots 51 and 52 running throughout a substantial length thereof and through which respectively extend spring fingers 53 and 54 carried respectively by the parts 41 and 42 under the expansion ring of flexible material 47 so that when the cap device 4% is opened by the camming of the handle portions 43 and 44 upon the body, the closure portions 48 and 49 are released from over the end of the body 19 as illustrated in Fig. 3 and the cap device slid toward the nib end of the pen. The fingers 53 and 54 will engage the ring 38 to take with them the ring 38 and the rubber sack to compress it in the manner shown in Fig. 5.

These fingers will come to a stop at the lower ends of the slots 51 and 52 and if the top of the pen is turned down into the ink and the cap device 40 is released the cap device 40 will be returned slowly with the help of the spring 39 while the ink is being drawn into the pen for its closing position where automatically the closed ends 48 and 49 will match with one another over the upper end of the body it A similar but shorter cap device 56 is slidable over the lower or pen point end of the pen. This device is supported on the nib Sleeve 12 and has separable halves 57 and 58 having respectively flared handles 59 and 60 with cam edges Hand 62. These parts 57 and 58 respectively have closure ends 63 and 64 that will close together in a leak proof manner. An expansion ring 65 is located about the parts adjacent to the handle ends thereof and will normally hold the parts together but can expand upon the handles being depressed to release the closure portions 63 and 64 from the pen point and allow :the cap to he slid upwardly over the body 10 and out of the way so that the pen point is made available for use. After the pen has been 'used and it is desired to cover the pen point the cap can be returned to its closing position on the pen. Thus there has been provided a pen With a cap in which the cap does not need to be removed from the pen body at any time. t

On this cap device 56 is a combined clip and balance ink indicator 66 that is formed of two parts 67 and 68. The part 67 is anchored to the expansion ring 65 and extends along the pen body 10 to provide a clip for holding the fountain pen in the pocket. The part 68 is tightly pivoted on the free end of the part 67 at 69 so that it can be swung outwardly therefrom. The end of the part 68 has spaced thumb and finger gripping members 70 and 71 by which a fulcrum pin 72 can be held in the manner shown in Figs. 1 and 9 to balance the pen to determine the amount of ink therewithin. If the rubber sack is filled with ink the pen will extend horizontally in perfect balance. If not, its pen point end will tip down as illustrated with dash lines. The extent to which the pen point end may tip down may give indication as to what percent the pen is filled with the It should now be apparent that there has been provided a fountain pen which has the slidable cap thereon that normally extends over the top or filling end of the pen and which when slid over the pen body exposes the top'filling end, discharges the air from the ink" sack and upon release causes the ink from a bottleto b 75 drawn into the pen. The cap will automatically return to and cover the wetted filling end of the pen and wiping of ink from the pen is unnecessary after the filling operation.

What is claimed is:

l. A fountain pen comprising a hollow pen body, a nib sleeve connected to one end of the body, a nib and a pen point mounted in the sleeve, said nib having a tubular portion extending into the pen body, a central filling member fixed to the top end of the pen body and extending longitudinally therethrough, said central filling member having filling and air discharge passages running from one end of the tube to the other, a rubber sack surrounding the central filling member and connected to the nib tubular portion at one end and to the central filling member at the other end, an operating member surrounding the sack intermediate its length thereof and engageable therewith, a valve support plate in the nib end of the sack and having a valve element normally engageable with each air discharge passage of the central filling member, biasing means reacting between the pen body and the valve plate to normally urge the same and its valve element against the end of the passage of the central tube, and biasing means between the operating member and the valve support plate to return the operating member to its initial position and permit the filling of the sack, and means slidably mounted over the pen body and engageable with-the operating member to compress the lower part of the rubber sack but releasable therefrom to permit the expansion thereof, and to close the valves upon the air discharge passages and the drawing of ink into the sack from the top end of .the pen and through the filling passage, said filling passage having valve means to normally maintain the passage closed. p

2. A fountain pen as described in claim 1, said slid able device comprising separable halves adapted to close the top end of the pen when not used for the filling of the pen with ink, an expansion ring surrounding the pen body and the separable cap members and handle portions with fulcrum edges on the separable members so that upon squeezing the same the members can be separated from one another and freed from the top end of the pen, and said pen body having opposing elongated slots running through a substantial length of the body, and said respective halves having fingers extending respectively through the slots and adapted to engage with the operating plate surrounding the rubber sack.

3. A fountain pen as described in claim 1, and said valve support plate having a valve projection engageable with the end of the nip tubular portion to prevent the discharge of ink through the nib while the rubber sack is being collapsed and the air discharged therefrom and a second valve in the nib tubular portion operable under gravity when the sack has been released for filling to prevent the flow of ink through the nib portion when the rubber sack is being filled through the central tube.

4. A fountain pen as described in claim 1, and a cap removably mounted on the body over the pen point end of the pen, and a clip device mounted on the cap and having angularly separable parts, one overlying the other and when separated adapted to be extended to a center point of the pen, pivot members on the end of the clip device adapted to be grasped and held to balance the pen so that the indication of the amount of ink in the pen can be determined from the tilting of the pen relative to the horizontal about the pivot members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

